User talk:4.31.64.218

I am a Washington, DC based journalist working for a foreign (Japanese) newspaper company. I have known and interviewed Mr. John Florescu and his media activities over the course of 2 decades. I take issue with the observation that John Florescu is not notable enough to have his background biography included on Wikipedia.

Many people who follow U.S. presidential campaigns know that Mr. Florescu co-produced with Sir David Frost the "Talking with David Frost" series between 1991-1998 and "The Next President" (1987-88) which were widely watched and praised in the U.S., in the U.K. and throughout Europe. The Frost-Florescu produced interviews with President George H.W. Bush and President Clinton led to newspaper headlines in virtually all the major U.S. cities. The newspaper I work for (Nikkei, Japan's largest financial newspaper) interviewed John Florescu about various presidential candidates/ campaign issues about a dozen times...based on the fact that Mr. Florescu earlier served as a Director of Communications for the Democratic National Committee. Former DNC Chair Paul Kirk, earlier commented that the programs produced by Sir David Frost and John commented that "The Next President" 14-part interview series was the best thing in the overall coverage of the 1988 presidential race.

Earlier in Mr. Florescu's career, he produced a special series of interviews with Nobel Prize Laureates in Stockholm on the anniversary of the Nobel Prize. That series, "The Great Nobel Debate" aired on PBS as I recall. And, back in 2002, John Florescu produced a retrospective multi-part series on Sir David Frost's Nixon interviews with many unseen clips from the 27 hours of interviews that Sir David Frost recorded with President Nixon back in the 1970's.

I strongly favor keeping John Florescu's profile on Wikipedia.

- Stephen Keefe Nikkei Washington bureau